Wrentham Priest Retires Sort of, by Gloria LaBounty, Sun Chronicle, June 16, 2007

Wrentham Priest Retires - Sort of

By Gloria LaBounty
Sun Chronicle
June 16, 2007

http://www.thesunchronicle.com/articles/2007/06/16/features/feature64.txt

Wrentham - Back in the 1950s when the Rev. John Connolly was wondering if he should enter the priesthood, he decided to take the advice of someone he trusted.

"A great priest told me what to do, to knock at the seminary door, to give it a whack," he said.

Connolly did just that, and not only became a student, but kept studying until he was ordained in 1963.

Now, at the age of 72, he is ready to slow down a bit and step back from the full-time duties he has pursued with gusto for more than four decades.

This week, Connolly moved into semi-retirement after leaving St. Mary's parish in Wrentham, where he has been pastor for more than a dozen years, and moving to St. Margaret Mary's parish in Westwood, where he will be a senior priest in residence and help out on a part-time basis.

Father John Connolly of St. Mary's Church is retiring. on front steps of church.
Photo by Tom Maguire

Although full retirement is an option at his age, Connolly can't imagine it.

"I'm too hyper, and too much in love with what I'm doing," he said.

His parishioners offered their sentiments last Sunday during an afternoon open house following the last weekend of Masses that Connolly would celebrate as pastor of the parish.

First, he enjoyed a buffet luncheon in the rectory with his extended family, friends, and fellow priests. Then came the public reception in the parish hall that attracted an estimated 800 guests who waited in line through the afternoon to bid Connolly farewell.

Connolly then celebrated his final Mass at the parish on Tuesday morning, and state Rep. Richard Ross, R-Wrentham, was there to present him with a proclamation from the Statehouse.

The Mass also was celebrated by Connolly's replacement, the Rev. David Goodrow, who was transferred from St. Patrick's parish in Stoneham to become the new pastor of St. Mary's in Wrentham.

As for Connolly, he now will be celebrating Mass at his new parish and at neighboring churches that may need his help.

"I wouldn't know how to retire, to stop and do nothing," he said.

But he does plan to take time to go on retreat and be reflective, and to take more time for his family - which includes seven brothers and sisters, 34 nieces and nephews, and 59 grand-nieces and grand-nephews.

"This gives me an opportunity to be reintroduced to my biological family," he said.

"They have always understood that I have a spiritual family as well as a biological one."

The biological version was spawned by parents who met in Maine after moving there from Ireland, and who relocated to the Boston area in 1946 when their oldest child entered college. For Connolly, college meant St. John's Seminary in Brighton.

After ordination, he served at Immaculate Conception Parish in Stoughton, then at St. Francis Xavier in Weymouth before returning to Immaculate Conception and studying the Portuguese language in Lisbon so he could serve the large ethnic population at the Stoughton parish. His two stints there totaled 18 years.

"I loved it," Connolly said. "My heart was always at Immaculate. It was my first assignment, my first love."

He spent a couple of years serving two parishes in Tyngsborough and Bridgewater before being sent to Wrentham in the fall of 1994. He was named pastor of the parish in January 1995.

What he found during his dozen years there was "great happiness and joy," Connolly said. When he left this week, he told parishioners they had been "the wing beneath my wings."

His tenure wasn't all breezy. Connolly had to first deal with the controversial issue of replacing the former rectory with a new, modernized version despite opposition from some town residents who wanted the 200-year-old historic residence preserved. Connolly listened to their concerns at forums, and answered all their calls and letters. In the end, the house was torn down and a new rectory was built that copied the Colonial style and features of its predecessor.

Then came the sexual abuse scandal that erupted in 2002 in the Archdiocese of Boston, which includes the Wrentham parish. Connolly took the same approach, listening and responding to parishioners, and sharing their pain.

"We were all hurting," he said. "People are still hurting."

While some people left the church, many stayed, and Connolly today is heartened by the thousands of converts across the country who become Roman Catholics each year.

He also is encouraged by the commitment of the Wrentham parish and its 6,500 members, including hundreds who are active in its ministry.

"It's been a great blessing," he said of his time there.

In taking his leave, he repeated what he had told parishioners when he became their pastor in 1995.

"I have been blessed to be your waiter, to serve at your table," he told them.

Now, he said, "I will go to my next mission, to the next people of God."

Gloria LaBounty can be reached at 508-236-0333 or at glabounty@thesunchronicle.com.